In September, our class offered to promote and organize the school's annual drive in support of the local food bank. Then, in October, high school ambassadors from Learning for a Sustainable Future (LSF), visited our class and helped students identify a pair of outreach projects that would complement the food drive nicely: a winter clothing drive and a campaign to knit scarves for the less fortunate. Our project, which the students named "The Epic Knitty Bitty Clothing & Food Drive," took place from mid-November to mid-December.
Students in our class began their work by decorating banners and boxes for a drop-off station in the school foyer.
Our drop-off station:
Next, we created colourful posters and distributed them throughout the school.
Students in our class also wrote a short piece for the school newsletter and counted out flyers, reminding Kindergarten through Grade 8 students and their parents to contribute. The Grade 4 class helped with promotion by writing and reading reminders on the morning announcements.
After our drop-off station was set up and promotion was in place, it was time to start knitting! A few students in our class already knew how to knit. Several others attended a knitting course/club, run by our school's Grade 4 teacher.
Some of us also made polar fleece scarves, for the clothing drive.
Throughout the campaign students in our class kept the drop-off station neat, by organizing the food items and bringing bags of clothing to the classroom for storage.
When our trio of drives were over, we sorted the donations and readied them to be delivered to local social service agencies. Mrs. Black drove our food to The Sharing Place food bank, and clothing to the Green Haven Women's Shelter's drop off location. She also delivered a few pet food items that came in with the food drive to the Orillia SPCA.
Here, we are sorting, counting and packing the food drive items:
At the food bank:
Sorting and packing the clothing drive items:
At Green Haven's drop off centre:
We were amazed by the response to our food and clothing drive! We collected 339 food items (which weighed in at 327 lbs.) and 14 large bags of clothes. Students in our class also made a total of 15 scarves for the less fortunate.
We want to thank everyone who donated food, clothes, knitting supplies and polar fleece, to "The Epic Knitty Bitty Clothing & Food Drive." Your donations will keep some grateful people warm and well fed this winter!
The "Knitty Bitty" drive isn't the only thing that's epic. Mrs. Black wants to recognize her EPIC STUDENTS for their caring and compassion, and congratulate them on a job exceptionally well done! 🙂
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Thank you for visiting our class BLOG. If you have any questions or comments, feel free e-mail me (Margaret Black): mblack@scdsb.on.ca or to add a comment to this page.